I’m a native of Mexico who lives and works in Washington D.C. as a Foreign Correspondent. From 1989 to 2005, I was bureau chief for El Financiero, Mexico’s leading financial newspaper. I am currently Washington correspondent for Noticias MVS, Mexico’s #1 radio news station. My book, U.S. Ambassadors to Mexico, published by the Woodrow Wilson Center, looks into three decades of U.S.-Mexico relations from the unique perspective of Washington’s men in Mexico. The book is also available in Spanish under the title El Embajador (Editorial Planeta, 2013). Follow me on Twitter: @DoliaEstevez or write me: mexicobillionaire@gmail.com

Mexican Billionaires Have Strong Year, With 18.4% Increase In Wealth

The combined net worth of Mexico’s billionaires reached $148.5 billion, an increase of 18.4% from the previous year’s total of $125.1 billion. Based on the new Forbes Billionaire ranking’s data, these gains slightly outpaced the growth in the amount of wealth held by the entire 2013 billionaire list, which after adding 210 new billionaires, grew by 17.4% from $4.6 to $5.4 trillion.

With a reported wealth of $73 billion, for the fourth year in a row Carlos Slim leads not only Mexico but the entire world as the richest person alive. Slim—who as the Honorary Chairman of mobile telecom giant America Movil is deeply involved in formulating its strategy, though he does not hold an executive position at any of his firms —grew his net wealth by $4 billion largely as a result of the growth experienced by two of his businesses, Grupo Financiero Inbursa and Grupo Carso. According to Forbes’ research, Slim’s most valuable holding continues to be telecommunications giant America Movil (NYSE:AMX), which contributes $36.3 billion to his total net worth,.

After Carlos Slim, the second most highly positioned Mexican on this year’s list is Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez, who chairs Industrias Peñoles, one of the world’s largest silver mines. Bailleres stands at number 32 on the global list with a fortune totaling $18.2 billion. He controls department store chain Palacio de Hierro, insurance company Grupo Nacional Provincial and pension fund manager Grupo Profuturo.

Among the Mexican billionaires who experienced significant drops in position on this year’s list was Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who fell from number 37 to 111 and whose current fortune stands at $9.9 billion. Salinas Pliego serves as the president and CEO of Salinas Group, a conglomerate that operates in the financial services and telecommunications sectors and has a combined annual revenue of approximately $6 billion.

In the 2013 Forbes listing one firm has become the source of wealth for four of the Mexican new billionaires. Eva Gonda Rivera, brothers Jose and Francisco Calderon Rojas and Max Michel Suberville , all appear on the list as a result of their stakes in Fomento Economico Mexicano (NYSE:FMX) or Femsa, a beverage company co-founded by the Calderon’s father that has grown into the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the world. Femsa also operates OXXO, the largest and most profitable chain of convenience stores in Latin America.

The country’s two other newcomers were Rufino Vigil Gonzalez and Juan Gallardo Thurlow. The former owner of Industrias CH, a steel processing firm, appears at number 613 on the list with a fortune of $2.4 billion, while the latter appears at number 1,107 with a net worth of $1.3 billion.

Despite the newcomers, which along with Brazil’s billionaire boom boosted the region’s total to 129, Latin America continues to stand well behind the United States, Europe and Asia among regions in total billionaires. Still the numerical and wealth growth of Mexican billionaires underscores the challenge the new government of Enrique Peña Nieto faces to narrow the wealth gap and pull half of Mexico’s 110 million people out of poverty.

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